for them to make any address abroad which is likely to be published in any other country than that where they officially reside.

Correspondence

with the press.

CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE PRESS.

396. The statute prohibits a Consular Officer from corR. S., sec. 1751. responding in regard to the public affairs of any foreign government with any private person, newspaper, or other periodical, or otherwise than with the proper officers of the United States. It is held, however, that this prohibition does not extend to literary articles or subjects not connected with politics.

Permission to

trade.

PERMISSION TO TRADE.

397. Consular Officers whose salaries exceed one thousand R. S., sec. 1700. dollars a year are prohibited from engaging in business within their several districts. Those whose salaries are at that rate or less are allowed to trade. The additional prohibition provided for in the statute has been imposed only in rare instances. Those Officers whose compensation consists of the fees they receive for official services are also permitted to trade; and no restriction in this respect is placed upon Vice or Deputy Consular Officers, or Consular Agents. It has, however, been held to be unadvisable that Interpreters and Marshals of Consular courts and Consular Clerks receiving a salary should be allowed the privilege of trading, although exceptions have sometimes been made for good cause shown to the Department of State.

Official corre spondence, &c.

OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE AND BEARING ABROAD.

398. Consular Officers ordinarily have no diplomatic position, and must not assume such unless specially instructed by the Department, or unless they are regularly presented in that capacity by a Diplomatic Representative of the United States on his leaving his post. They, therefore, cannot ordinarily correspond directly with the government of the country in which they reside.

399. In the absence, however, of a Diplomatic Representative, cases may arise in which a Consul may be required to correspond directly with the government. All such corre

spondence as well as all correspondence with the local authorities, and with their colleagues, should be conducted in a courteous and dignified manner.

400. They will endeavor to cultivate friendly social relations with the community in which they reside, and will refrain from expressing harsh or disagreeable opinions upon the local, political, or other questions which divide the community within their jurisdiction. They are forbidden to participate in any manner in the political concerns of the country. In their dispatches upon such subjects they will confine themselves to the communication of important or interesting public events, as they occur, avoiding all unnecessary reflections upon the character or conduct of individuals or governments; and they will not give publicity, through the press or otherwise, to opinions injurious to the public institutions of the country, or the persons concerned in their administration. It is at the same time no less their duty to report freely and seasonably to their own government all important facts which may come to their knowledge touching the political condition of the country, especially if their communications can be made to subserve or may affect the interests and well-being of their own country.

PRECEDENCE OF CONSULAR OFFICERS.

401. The order of official precedence in the service is as follows: 1. Agents and Consul-General; 2. Consuls-General; 3. Consuls; 4. Commercial Agents; 5. Vice-Consular Officers; 6. Deputy Consular Officers; 7. Consular Clerks; 8. Consular Agents.

402. Agents and Consuls-General rank with commodores in the Navy, or brigadier generals in the Army. ConsulsGeneral also have the same rank.

403. Consuls and Commercial Agents rank with capta'ns in the Navy, or colonels in the Army.

404. Vice-Consular Officers, Deputy Consular Officers, Consular Clerks, and Consular Agents rank with lieutenants in the Navy, or captains in the Army.

405. Consular Officers are entitled to enjoy the rank and precedence above stated. This precedence will be deter

Precedence and

rank.

Precedence, how determined.

Inventions, discoveries, &c.

Agriculture, manufactures, &c.

Paterts.

mined, among officers of the same rank, by the date of commission.

NEW INVENTIONS, DISCOVERIES, ETC.

406. If a Consul sees new inventions or improvements in machinery, which he thinks may be used, or new seeds or plants, which he thinks may be propagated with advantage in the United States, he will give the Department such information about them as may be within his reach. And in case of seeds or plants, he will, as opportunity offers to do so without cost, send specimens to the Department of Agriculture.

407. He will communicate any useful and interesting information relating to agriculture, manufactures, population, and public works. In all that relates to scientific discoveries, to progress in the useful arts, and to general statistics in foreign countries, Consular Officers are expected to communicate freely and frequently with the Department, and to note all events occurring within their consular districts which affect beneficially or otherwise the navigation and commerce of the United States; the establishment of new branches of industry; the increase or decline of those before established; and communicate all the information which they may be enabled to obtain calculated to benefit our commerce and other interests, and the best means of removing any impediments that may have retarded their advancement.

408. Persons in foreign countries desiring to submit inventions of any kind to the consideration or examination of the Government of the United States, must address in writing the "Secretary of the Interior (Patent-Office), Washington, United States of America." They must give a description of the invention, and must state whether or not they expect, or intend to ask, any compensation whatsoever. No expense incurred in connection with the invention, or its presentation, will be considered as giving any claim whatever to compensation, or to indemnification. The Government of the United States will assume no responsibility whatever, whether for loss of time, for services, for expenses of any kind, for loss or injury to any models, drawings, or

other things, or for any cause whatsoever in connection with the invention or its presentation, unless the same may have been specially and distinctly authorized in writing, under the signature of the Secretary of the Interior, and in this case the responsibility of the Government will be limited to the amount named in his letter authorizing the same. No claim for indemnification or for compensation will be entertained, unless accompanied by such letter of the Secretary of the Interior as is above contemplated; and no indemnification or compensation will be allowed to any inventor, or other person presenting an invention, unless there be an appropriation by Congress authorizing such payment. No indemnification or compensation will be made in any case, unless the invention be adopted, or some advantage inures therefrom to the public service of the United States; and the Government of the United States, through its appropriate Department, will, in all cases, be the sole judge on these points.

INFORMATION AS TO LIGHT-HOUSES, BUOYS, SHOALS, ETC.

409. Consular Officers are expected to report all matters that may come to their knowledge affecting the navigation of waters in their districts, or that may be of public interest or advantage. All notices of the erection of new lighthouses, removals or changes in those established, the discovery or survey of shoals and reefs, changes in channels, the fixing of new buoys and beacons, and all subjects that concern the interests of navigation, should be communicated promptly to the Department of State. If published notices are sent, two copies should be furnished; and if they are in a foreign language they must be accompanied by accurate and trustworthy translations.

IMPORTATION OF NEAT CATTLE AND THE HIDES OF NEAT

CATTLE.

410. Sections 2493 and 2494 of the Revised Statutes are re-enacted in the act approved March 3, 1883. These sections prohibit the importation of neat cattle and the hides of neat cattle from any foreign country. It is provided,

Light-houses, buoys, &c.

Neat cattle and hides.

Inquiry to be made before certifying invoices.

Specific regulations.

however, that the operation of the prohibition may be suspended whenever the Secretary of the Treasury shall officially determine, and give public notice thereof, that such importation will not tend to the introduction or spread of contagious or infectious diseases among the cattle of the United States. He is required to make all necessary orders and regulations to carry the statute into effect, and to send copies thereof to the proper officers cf the United States in foreign countries. The President also is authorized to suspend the operation of the statute, by proclamation, thirty days after which its provisions shall be inoperative. In connection with the provisions of this statute Consular Officers may expect, as heretofore, to receive notice of the orders and regulations issued by the Secretary of the Treasury, and of any proclamation by the President that may from time to time be made, in which their several countries are concerned.

411. When the importation of such cattle and hides is permitted, and invoices are submitted for certification, it is the duty of the Consular Officer to make careful inquiries as to the district from which they come and to satisfy himself that no contagious or infectious disease exists therein which could be communicated to cattle in the United States. If such disease is found to exist, he is authorized to refuse the Consular certificate, reporting the case without delay to the Department of State. If no disease is found, he will grant the certificate according to the usual form of invoice certificate.

It is expected that Consular Officers will not perform their duty in a perfunctory manner, but will take pains to ascertain the true condition of the animals as to their freedom from disease before giving a certificate.

412. Neat cattle, arriving in the United States from any part of the world, except North and South America, can be landed only at such ports on the Atlantic sea-board as are at the time provided with cattle-quarantine stations under the general supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury.

Any person contemplating the importation of such cattle must first obtain a permit from the Treasury Department, stating the number and kind of animals to be imported, the